All, Fairly slow week even with the “warmer” weather. Had our first fix-a-flat class for the semester but no takers, unfortunately.

This week I’ll finish up the Bike Center history piece for marketing and have a training scheduled with a new staffer on Thursday evening. I’ll pick up some more bikes as well since we’ve worked through all the bikes in the shop, already. We’ve exceeded designated capacity for bikes already but the more we build, the more we can sell when it gets warm—hopefully.

The numbers:
Visitors: 12
Sales: $208
Memberships: 4 for $120
Misc: $52.50
Tire/tubes: 3 for $22

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Manager

All, Last Wednesday we had our first  class of the semester: Bike Maintenance 101. We had one attendee, despite the bitter cold and snow, which was great. He seemed genuinely appreciative of the BC and our mission. We were able to use his bike as a tutorial of sorts for some of the basic repairs.
We had a new-to-the-university student come in on Thursday who has a strong bike interest and background. He expressed interest in volunteering and becoming more involved—always a welcomed response!
On Friday I grabbed 4 bikes from the warehouse and we will work those up this week. The cold and snow will keep things nice and quiet here, I’m sure.

The numbers:

Visitors: 5
Sales: $262
Bike (refurb): 1 for $200
Membership: 1 for $30
Misc: $31

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Manager

All, Slow week, of course. Housekeeping abounded: student staff meeting, an interview, safety checks.

This week we have our Basic Maintenance 101 class on Wednesday evening. Other than that, it’s business as usual. The extreme cold will likely keep people away but this week also marks a relaxing of COVID restrictions, so we’ll see how those two balance each other out.

The numbers:

Visitors: 10
Sales: $105
Misc: $60

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Manager

All, Not a whole lot to report: The Bike Center Fix It pump is operational and I’ll be meeting this week about marketing to get the word out. I got an email not 12 hours after visiting the new Flagg Hall covered bike parking asking if it was operational, funnily enough. Parking tagged the bike that was locked up out front of the Bike Center. It was probably a donation but doing our due diligence on that.

This week student staff will start and we’ll work through some more bike builds.

The numbers:

Visitors: 6
Sales: $59
Memberships: 1 for $30
Misc: $29

Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Manager

All, Slow week, of course. An uptick in donations of parts/bikes. Got a nice hybrid Giant bike that is already fixed up and ready to sell.

We are almost totally and completely moved out of our former garage home. It’s actually a lot of square footage in there once you remove all the stuff accumulated over the last 11 years or so!

This week will be scheduling, semester prep, and more work to get the outdoor bike pump fixed up and operational for the few hearty winter cyclists.  

The numbers:
Visitors: 10
Sales: $196
Memberships: 2 for $60
Bike (refurb): 1 for $120
Misc: $16

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Manager

All, Pretty slow around these parts—per usual for this time of year.

A story: A gentleman comes in on Wednesday looking for bikes. We get to talking and he’s volunteered at Working Bikes (the org we give abandoned bikes to) up in Chicago, he knows his way around a wrench. He buys a nice road bike and that was that. An hour later, he brings a friend back; she signs up for a membership. Two days later, same guy is back with another friend; he buys a membership, too. Says they’ll both be back on Monday to work on a bike. Word of mouth really is the best marketing.

This week I’ll still be processing the donations from the kids bike event that were not kids bikes. We got a lot of adult-sized bikes that aren’t worth saving, unfortunately.
The numbers:

Visitors: 11
Sales: $254
Memberships: 2 for $60
Misc: $4

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Manager

All, Last Monday WCIA came by the Bike Center and interviewed me for our Kids Bike Giveaway event. Made the evening news! We got one call from a woman in Tuscola, a man from Danville, and a woman emailed from Springfield, all referenced the news story.
Accordingly, we’re in full-on kids bike mode: student staff are fixing them, I’m fielding phone calls and emails, people are dropping them off nearly every day we’re open and sometimes even when we’re not.
I think we’re at around 20 bikes and we should probably get to 30 by week’s end between both shops.
This week we’ll continue prepping for the Bike Giveaway event, mostly logistical items like signage, set up, and keep fixing them.

The numbers:

Visitors: 11

Sales: $215
Bike (refurb): 1 for $160
Tires/tubes: 4 for $39

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Manager

All, Last week was our first one with “regular” open hours again. I’d guess we had about the same number of people coming by as we did under our reservation system but it was certainly less leg work.
Our main push for the next few weeks will be our Kids Bike Giveaway. The particulars:

Date: Saturday, December 19th
Time: 1 – 3p or until we run out of bikes
Location: Urbana Bike Project (202 S Broadway Ave., Urbana)
Details: first come, first served; one bike per kid and they must be present to pick out their bike.

We are still in need of donations but just through emailing our membership we’ve heard from 3 – 4 people with bikes to donate.  WCIA is calling me later today to discuss, so hopefully we’ll get on the news. I’ve done lots of submitting to various media outlets. I’ll be focusing on getting the word out on the need for donations this week and focus on doing the bulk of the refurbishing next week. If successful TBP has expressed interest in making this an annual event. We’ll see!

The numbers:

Visitors: 6
Sales: $165.50

Memberships: 2 for $60
Tires/tubes: 4 for $12

Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Manager